Noach (parsha)

Noach (Hebrew: נֹחַ, "Rest/Comfort") is the second weekly Torah portion. It covers Genesis 6:9 through 11:32 and contains the story of Noah, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the genealogies from Noah to Abraham.

Summary

The parasha opens with "These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). God tells Noah that the end of all flesh has come and commands him to build an ark. Noah builds the ark, takes his family and pairs of animals, and the Flood comes for forty days and nights. After the waters recede, Noah offers a sacrifice, and God makes a covenant never to destroy the earth by flood again, setting the rainbow as a sign. Noah then plants a vineyard, becomes drunk, and is shamed by his son Ham; Shem and Japheth cover him. The parasha then lists the descendants of Noah's three sons (the Table of Nations), describes the Tower of Babel, and traces the genealogy from Noah to Abraham.

Noah and the Flood

נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים הִתְהַלֵּךְ נֹחַ

"Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9)

The phrase "in his generations" (בְּדֹרֹתָיו) is debated: some read it as praise (Noah was righteous even in a corrupt generation), others as qualification (he was righteous only relative to his generation, not absolutely like Abraham). God tells Noah: "The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence (חָמָס, hamas) through them" (Genesis 6:13). The word hamas (violence/robbery) is the stated cause of the Flood, not merely sin in general.

The Ark

God commands Noah to build an ark (תֵּבָה, teivah — also the word for Moses' basket) of gopher wood, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, with a window (צֹהַר, tzohar) and a door. He is to take his wife, his three sons (Shem, Ham, Japheth) and their wives, and two of every animal (seven pairs of clean animals) into the ark, plus food for all. Noah does "according to all that God commanded him" (Genesis 6:22). The Talmud (Sanhedrin 108b) notes Noah spent 120 years building the ark as a warning to his generation.

The Flood

Noah enters the ark with his family and the animals. God sends the Flood: "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened" (Genesis 7:11). The rain falls for forty days and forty nights. The waters prevail for 150 days, covering the highest mountains by 15 cubits. All life outside the ark perishes. God remembers Noah and the animals, and a wind passes over the earth, and the waters recede.

The ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4). Noah sends out a raven, which flies back and forth until the waters dry. He then sends a dove three times: first it returns; second it returns with an olive leaf; third it does not return. Noah removes the covering of the ark and sees that the ground is dry. God tells Noah to exit with his family and the animals. Noah builds an altar and offers burnt offerings of clean animals; God smells the "sweet savor" and promises never to curse the ground again for man's sake, "for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Genesis 8:21).

The Covenant and Rainbow

God blesses Noah and his sons: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1). God establishes a covenant (בְּרִית) with Noah and all living creatures: never again will a flood destroy the earth. The sign of the covenant is the rainbow (קֶשֶׁת): "I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth" (Genesis 9:13). When God sees the rainbow, He will remember the covenant.

God also gives the Seven Noahide Laws (שֶׁבַע מִצְווֹת בְּנֵי נֹחַ), binding on all humanity:

1. Do not worship idols
2. Do not blaspheme God's name
3. Do not murder
4. Do not commit sexual immorality
5. Do not steal
6. Do not eat flesh torn from a living animal (ever min ha-chai)
7. Establish courts of justice

God also permits eating meat (previously, in Eden, humanity was vegetarian): "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you" (Genesis 9:3), with the prohibition against consuming blood: "the blood is the life" (Genesis 9:4).

Noah's Drunkenness

Noah plants a vineyard, drinks of the wine, and becomes drunk, uncovering himself in his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, sees his father's nakedness and tells his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth take a garment, walk backward, and cover their father without looking. When Noah awakens and learns what Ham has done, he curses Canaan: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers" (Genesis 9:25). He blesses Shem: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem" (Genesis 9:26), and Japheth: "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem" (Genesis 9:27). Noah lives 350 years after the Flood and dies at age 950.

Table of Nations

Genesis 10 lists the descendants of Noah's three sons — 70 nations in total — and their territories. This chapter is the ethnographic table of the ancient world as known to the biblical author:

• Japheth's descendants: Peoples of the north and west — Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Tiras. Includes the Greeks (Javan) and peoples of Anatolia.
• Ham's descendants: Peoples of the south and Africa — Cush (Ethiopia), Mizraim (Egypt), Put (Libya), Canaan. Includes Nimrod, "a mighty hunter before the Lord," who built Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia).
• Shem's descendants: Peoples of the Middle East — Elam, Asshur (Assyria), Arpachshad, Lud, Aram. From Shem descends Eber (עֵבֶר), the ancestor of the Hebrews (עִבְרִים).

The chapter emphasizes that these nations spread out "by their families, by their tongues, in their lands, by their nations" (Genesis 10:20) — a world of diversity that will be disrupted by the Tower of Babel.

Tower of Babel

וַיְהִי כָל הָאָרֶץ שָׂפָה אֶחָת וּדְבָרִים אֲחָדִים

"And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech." (Genesis 11:1)

The people of Shinar decide to build a city and a tower "whose top may reach unto heaven" (Genesis 11:4), to make a name for themselves and avoid being scattered. God comes down to see the city and tower, saying: "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do; and now nothing will be withheld from them which they purpose to do" (Genesis 11:6). God confuses their language so they cannot understand one another, and scatters them over the face of the earth. The city is called Babel (בָּבֶל, "confusion") because there God confused the language of all the earth.

The Tower of Babel explains the origin of diverse languages and nations, and serves as a cautionary tale about human pride and the limits of collective power without God.

Genealogies to Abraham

Genesis 11:10–32 traces the genealogy from Shem to Abraham (אַבְרָם) through ten generations: Shem → Arpachshad → Shelah → Eber → Peleg → Reu → Serug → Nahor → Terah → Abram. Terah takes his family from Ur of the Chaldees toward Canaan, but settles in Haran (חָרָן), where Terah dies. Abram marries Sarai (שָׂרַי), who is barren. The parasha ends with Terah's death, setting the stage for God's call to Abram in the next parasha (Lech Lecha).

Major themes

• Righteousness in a corrupt world: Noah is "righteous in his generations" — the debate over whether this is absolute or relative praise.
• Divine justice and mercy: God destroys the wicked but saves the righteous; the Flood is both punishment and a new beginning.
• Covenant: The Noahide covenant is the first covenant in the Torah, universal in scope (all humanity and animals).
• Human violence: The word hamas (violence) is the stated cause of the Flood.
• Diversity and unity: The Table of Nations and Tower of Babel explain the origin of languages and peoples.
• Pride and hubris: The Tower of Babel as a warning against human arrogance.
• Renewal after destruction: The post-Flood world is a new creation; God's promise of stability ("seedtime and harvest... shall not cease," Genesis 8:22).
• The Noahide Laws: The seven universal commandments binding on all humanity, forming the basis of natural law in Jewish thought.

Classical commentaries

Rashi

Rashi explains "in his generations" both ways: some say Noah was righteous even in his generation (praise), others say he was righteous only compared to his generation (criticism) — like a silver coin in a pile of copper. On the ark, Rashi notes the word teivah means "box" and that the ark had three levels: top for people, middle for animals, bottom for refuse. On the rainbow, Rashi says it was created during the six days of creation but only revealed now. On the Tower of Babel, Rashi explains that the builders wanted to make war against God, not literally reach heaven.

Ramban

Ramban sees the Flood as a reversal of creation — the world returns to the primordial waters of Genesis 1:2. The ark represents a microcosm of creation. On Noah's drunkenness, Ramban explains that Noah was the first to plant vineyards and discover wine, and his sin was in drinking to excess. On the Tower of Babel, Ramban emphasizes that the builders' sin was rebellion against God's command to "fill the earth" — they wanted to stay together and build a name for themselves.

Ibn Ezra

Ibn Ezra focuses on the geography of the Flood, identifying the "mountains of Ararat" with a region in Armenia. He explains the rainbow as a natural phenomenon that God now invests with covenantal meaning. On the Tower of Babel, Ibn Ezra notes that the builders used brick and slime (tar) because stone was scarce in the plain of Shinar.

Sforno

Sforno explains that Noah was saved not because he was perfect but because he found grace — divine favor that he did not necessarily earn. The Noahide laws represent the minimum ethical standard for all humanity, while the Torah's 613 commandments are for Israel.

Midrashic interpretations

• Bereshit Rabbah 31:1: Noah was a farmer (אִישׁ הָאֲדָמָה) before the Flood; after the Flood, he planted a vineyard. Some say he found a vine branch from the Garden of Eden.
• Bereshit Rabbah 33:1: The raven did not return because it suspected Noah of wanting its mate (since ravens are monogamous). The dove is a symbol of Israel.
• Bereshit Rabbah 36:3: The rainbow was one of ten things created at twilight on the eve of the first Sabbath (Pirkei Avot 5:6).
• Bereshit Rabbah 38:6: Ham's sin was not merely seeing his father's nakedness but castrating him (or worse), which is why Canaan was cursed.
• Bereshit Rabbah 38:10: Shem is identified with Melchizedek, king of Salem (Genesis 14:18).
• Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24: The Tower of Babel was built over 42 years; God confounded 70 languages.
• Tanhuma, Noach 18: Nimrod was the one who incited the people to build the Tower; he was a tyrant who sought to dominate humanity.

Haftarah

The haftarah for Noach is Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5 (Ashkenazi) or 54:1–10 (Sephardi). It opens: "Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you that did not travail with child" (Isaiah 54:1). God compares His covenant with Israel to the covenant with Noah: "For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with you" (Isaiah 54:9). The haftarah is one of comfort (Shabbat Nachamu season), promising restoration and an everlasting covenant of peace.

References

1. Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 (Masoretic Text)
2. Rashi, Commentary on the Torah
3. Ramban, Commentary on the Torah
4. Ibn Ezra, Commentary on the Torah
5. Sforno, Commentary on the Torah
6. Bereshit Rabbah (Midrash)
7. Talmud Bavli: Sanhedrin 108b, Sanhedrin 56a (Noahide laws)
8. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer
9. Tanhuma, Noach
10. The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis (Nahum M. Sarna, 1989)
11. Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (JPS, 2001)
12. Sefaria.org, "Noach" (parasha)